Clarification on IP Rights Policy
Jane Silber
on 15 July 2015
We are updating our Intellectual Property Rights Policy to clarify the relationship between this policy and the licences of the constituent works in Ubuntu. Specifically, we are adding a single clause which states:
“Ubuntu is an aggregate work of many works, each covered by their own licence(s). For the purposes of determining what you can do with specific works in Ubuntu, this policy should be read together with the licence(s) of the relevant packages. For the avoidance of doubt, where any other licence grants rights, this policy does not modify or reduce those rights under those licences.”
We are proud to choose the GPL as the default licence for the software that Canonical writes, and we do that because we believe it is the licence that creates the most freedoms for its users. We have always recognised those rights in this Policy, and over the course of a long conversation with the Free Software Foundation and others, we agreed to eliminate any doubt by adding this new language.
We would like to thank the Free Software Foundation and the Software Freedom Conservancy for their suggestions in this regard over the past year. We’ll continue to evolve our policies, in consultation with the very diverse groups that make up the open source community, to reflect best practice and the needs of Canonical and the Ubuntu community.
Talk to us today
Interested in running Ubuntu in your organisation?
Newsletter signup
Related posts
What is System Hardening? Essential Checklists from OS to Applications
Hardening a system aims to decrease its exposure to make it difficult to hack, and to lessen the potential collateral damage in the event of a compromise.
Effortless observability for Django applications
Observability is critical for web operations to ensure that the application is working as expected and to identify any potential issues. However, setting up...
Among the waves: Plucky Puffin
Not to be confused with the titular Linux mascot and seabird cousin, the penguin, puffins are another distinctively colorful and whimsical nautical avian....